The Singapore International Film Festival is launching asection to highlight local cinema called Singapore Panorama.The fest'sSilver Screen Awards for Asian features will also include two competing films from the new sectionat its upcoming 21st edition (April 4-14.)

'It's a platform to represent new works and an easy handle for everyone to look for new talent,' said festival director Philip Cheah, commenting on the Panorama. 'We planned the showcase thinking that we would at best only find seven to eight new works.'

But instead, the new segment will consist of 14 local features and documentaries, representing a surge in production output from the nascent film sector.

The Silver Screen Awards has 15 Asian features in the main competition, including the world premiere of Kantata Takwa, a picture about music, theatre and film, that took three Indonesian directors over 15 years to complete; the international premieres of Indonesian director Djenar Maesa Ayu's They Say, I'm a Monkey and James Lee's Breathing In Mud from Malaysia.

Two films from Singapore Panorama - Lucky7, a multi-genre rollercoaster ride which had its world premiere at Rotterdam, and Kan Lume's Dreams From The Third World - are also vying for the Silver Screen Awards.

Lume remarked that he made 'a straight film' that people can see this year. His previous film Solos was withdrawn from the same competition last year due to its homosexual themes.

The festival will open with Hong Kong-born US-based director Wayne Wang's The Princess of Nebraska which is about a pregnant Chinese girl who has gone to America. The closing film is Hong Kong director Derek Chiu's The Road To Dawn about the life of Dr Sun Yat Sen, the father of modern China.

Wang is expected to attend the festival which will also screen his A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers, the companion film for The Princess Of Nebraska. Taiwanese actor Winston Chao who plays Dr Sun will be present at the closing ceremony.

Over 200 films from 40 countries will be showcased over 11 days.

MAIN COMPETITION TITLES

Shadows Formless (Asian premiere) Dir: Ashish Avikunthak (India)

Kantata Takwa (world premiere) Dir: Gotot Prakosa, Eros Djarot, Slamet Rahardjo Djarot (Indonesia)

Sitarasmi - Dir: Gotot Prakosa (Indonesia)

They Say, I'm a Monkey! (international premiere) Dir: Djenar Maesa Ayu (Indonesia)

Swift- Dir: Abai Kublai (Kazakhstan)

Milky Way Liberation Front- Dir: Yoong Seong-ho (Korea)

Dol - The Valley of Tambourines- Dir: Hiner Saleem (Kurdistan/France/Germany)

Breathing In Mud (international premiere) Dir: James Lee (Malaysia)

Slingshot- Dir: Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

Dreams From The Third World (world premiere) Dir: Kan Lume (Singapore)

Lucky7 (Asian premiere) Dirs: Sun Koh, K Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen, Tania Sng (Singapore)

Out Of Coverage- Dir: Abdellatif Abdelhamid (Syria)

The Life- Dir: Dao Duy Phuc (Vietnam)

SINGAPORE PANORAMA

18 Grams of Love / Dir: Han Yew Kwang

Boomtown Beijing / Dir: Tan Siok Siok

Diminishing Memories 2 (world premiere) Dir: Eng Yee Peng

Dirt Out (world premiere) Dir: Yousry Mansour

Dreams From The Third World (world premiere) Dir: Kan Lume

Hashi (international premiere) Dir: Sherman Ong

Homeless FC / Dir: James Leong, Lynn Lee

Keronchong For Pak Bakar (world premiere) Dir: Abdul Nizam Hamid

Lucky7 (Asian premiere) Dir: Sun Koh, K Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen, Tania Sng

Road to Mecca (world premiere) Dir: Harman Hussin

Slam (world premiere) Dir: Jonathan Lim

The Olive Depression (Asian premiere) Dir: Joshua Lim

Veil of Dreams (world premiere) Dir: Zaihirat Banu Codelli

Women Who Love Women: Conversations in Singapore (world premiere) Dir: Lim Mayling

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